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Today, cancer is the leading cause of death of people living with HIV (PLWH). A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that between 1996 and 2009, there was a 50% increase in cancers of people living with HIV compared to the general population. Non-AIDS-related cancer deaths increased from 11% to 22%. People living with HIV had higher rates for 4 out of 5 forms of cancer.

Advocacy is an extraordinary and powerful tool. This is a strategy that can tailor itself to the unique needs and culture of any service-related organization. It’s also genuinely exciting to offer technical assistance to organizations interested in putting advocacy to work.

These are just some of the reasons ETR’s team embraces any opportunity we are given to support organizations in building advocacy skills and practices.

PrEP has altered the landscape in HIV prevention in extraordinary and profound ways. It’s changing the lives of vulnerable individuals. It’s also bringing about big changes for the HIV workforce—health care providers, prevention specialists, outreach workers, social workers, educators and more. In fact, I believe we’ve entered the most dynamic period in our fight against HIV since 1996, when the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy revolutionized treatment and saved countless lives.

In 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved oral Truvada for pre-exposure prophylaxis of HIV (PrEP). In a very short period of time, PrEP has substantially changed the HIV prevention landscape. It’s effective (when taken) and has an excellent safety profile.

How well is it working in different populations? I took a quick dive into some recent reports to get an update.

By Melissa Donze | July 25, 2016MPH Candidate, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health & ETR Kirby Summer Intern

It’s hard to forget your first time on Capitol Hill. I was first there in the fall of 2012. I had just started working as the Pedro Zamora Public Policy Fellow at AIDS United (a DC-based nonprofit focused on ending the HIV epidemic in the United States through strategic grantmaking and policy/advocacy).

I remember how incredible it felt to walk those marble halls where so many great policymakers had walked before me. I remember how inspired I felt to see fellow advocates preparing for meetings with high-level members of Congress.

How do we keep our sanity at work? How many times have you heard that question?

How do we provide the best services and products possible? How do we meet the needs of our clients and customers? Our co-workers, our supervisors? Our Board of Directors and funders? How do we do all this and still maintain a healthy family and social life?

Yes. I admit it. I use my “out of the office” message regularly!

The first week of June every year, I spend seven days on my bicycle, riding with over 2,000 other cyclists. We travel the 545 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles as part of AIDS Lifecycle. We raise money and awareness in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

But as I sat at my computer, I began to feel a little apprehensive. As an African American man with southern origins, I started to second guess my right to attempt this endeavor. Was I the person to speak to this commemoration?

I have worked as an HIV preventionist for more than two decades. In that time, I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside several powerful men and women of Caribbean descent. They have transformed and enhanced my understanding of how the intersection of ethnicity, HIV, gender identity and sexual orientation often plays out in Caribbean communities, and in other Black American communities as well. So I speak today to honor the achievements of this community and what I have learned from them.